China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection’s increased authority over climate change and pollution control issues indicates a greater enforcement role for central government.
By Paul A. Davies and Andrew Westgate
The Chinese government has announced a major reorganization of China’s ministries that comprise the Chinese central government at a session of the 13th National People’s Congress in Beijing. The reorganization, which will reduce the number of ministries from 34 to 26, is intended to streamline and strengthen central government’s role in accordance with the principle of “comprehensively deepening reforms,” a key component of President Xi Jinping’s political program.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) will be reconstituted as the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) as part of the reorganization. The MEE’s authority will expand to consolidate pollution-related responsibilities currently allocated among several other ministries, as well as assuming responsibility for climate change policy from the National Development and Reform Commission, a powerful economic planning agency which developed the national emissions trading system launched in late 2017. Specifically, MEE will expand its authority with respect to supervision and prevention of groundwater pollution, wastewater emission control, protection of rivers, non-point source agricultural runoff, protection of oceanic environments, environmental oversight for China’s massive South-North Water Transfer Project, and responsibility for climate change and emissions reduction policies.